Sports, Childhood, and Sin at the CrossRoads

CrossRoads hits the stands this spring with two new editions, "Kicking Back: Sports and Recreation in the South" and "Southern Childhoods." An issue on "Southern Sin" is also in the works. All three issues follow the CrossRoads tradition of mixing poetry, fiction, scholarly articles, interviews, and memoirs.

The sports and recreation issue features an interview with Southern writer George Garrett, an article on the National Field Dog Trials in Grand Junction, Tennessee, and an essay on the integration of minor league baseball in Mississippi. "All the selections in the 'Kicking Back' issue," states former editor Bland Whitley, "capture the important social functions that sports and recreation perform for Southerners of all walks of of life. Rather than being a peripheral diversion, recreation is for many people a central factor in their lives, including mine of course. The topic deserves scholarly and artistic attention."

Southern literature abounds with the theme of childhood, making it natural for the "Southern Childhoods" issue of CrossRoads to feature an interview with an author known for work in this genre. The interview is with Kentuckian Ed McClanahan, author of The Natural Man, a prominent "coming of age" book, as well as Famous People I Have Known and Congress of Wonder. McClanahan, not prone to interviews, agreed to talk with Southern Studies graduate student Matthew Brothers of Marysville, Kentucky, the author's hometown. Referring to this experience, Brothers says, "Ed's insights allowed me a better understanding of his work, but, more importantly, they offered a more complete view of myself and my home, which of course is a major concern in studying the South."

Brothers is one of many Southern Studies students writing for CrossRoads. Among present and former students whose work appears in "Kicking Back" and "Southern Childhoods" issues are John T. Edge, Brian Dye, Chris Fullerton, and Stanfield Gray.

CrossRoads editors, in addition to distributing the newly published issues, are taking submissions for the "Southern Sin" issue. Wringing his hands in anticipation of CrossRoads articles concerning the South's dark underbelly, Charles Reagan Wilson comments, "Sin is at the heart of every Southerner." This should be a devilish issue.

Copies of "Kicking Back" and "Southern Childhoods" issues are available for $5 each. Send orders and inquiries for submission guidelines to CrossRoads, P. O. Box 726, University, MS 38677.

Sarah Sanders